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Tuesday, January 18, 2011

Empower to help peers in the region to boost district cooling industry that is growing between 15 and 20% annually

Empower to help peers in the region to boost district cooling industry that is growing between 15 and 20% annually

Bin Shafar: Absence of long term planning is biggest obstacle facing District Cooling companies

Dubai, UAE, 16th January, 2011: Ahmad Bin Shafar, CEO of Emirates Central Cooling Corporation (Empower), the largest district cooling service provider in the region, has invited District cooling companies in the Middle East to benefit from EMPOWER’s experience and boost the growth of the industry that is growing between 15 and 20 per cent annually.

Shafar said district cooling industry is faced with obstacles like absence of long term planning. He said though the Middle East is still in its fancy in the field district cooling, the potential is great as government support is huge and new real estate projects launched over the past five years demand this technology. Further, this technology is environment friendly and is in line with government approach to energy conservation.

Bin Shafar pointed out that other challenges include lack of high caliber technical and marketing personnel which has led to financial issues. In contrast, Empower achieved a revenue growth of 27 percent in 2010, driven by a prudent policy.

Bin Shafar added: “We are ready to support our peers in the industry so that we can enhance the global competiveness of the Gulf district cooling industry. We have developed expertise that has been acquired through seven years of hand work and international collaboration.”

Bin Shafar said that the Gulf has a competitive edge compared to many other countries in the world because of its recent adoption of district cooling and this technology is seamlessly integrated into the real estate projects, unlike places in Northern America and Europe where the technology has to be added to existing projects.

Bin Shafar added that the UAE was the first in the Middle East to realize the importance of district cooling as an alternative to conventional cooling, compared to very modest usage in other parts of the Middle East.

Empower succeeded in adopting world class district cooling infrastructure to implement this system that is considered an ideal economic and environmental solution for residential and commercial units, offices and hotels. The operational savings in a residential unit compared to conventional AC technologies is remarkable.

Empower tops the list of companies providing district cooling service in the region. The company, owned by DEWA and TECOM, had adopted a clear strategy to preserve environment through aggressively disseminating this technology and conducting campaigns to highlight its strategic value in the short and long run to the people and the society in general.

About Empower: Emirates Central Cooling Systems Corporation (Empower) is a joint venture between Dubai Technology and Media Free Zone (TECOM) Investments and Dubai Electricity and Water Authority (DEWA), created to provide energy-efficient district cooling services to large-scale real estate developments. Empower plans to diversify into other energy efficiency and conservation services. Empower's district cooling systems (DCS) provide effective and efficient means of air conditioning. Water is cooled in central plants and distributed through a network of piping systems to individual customer buildings. DCS achieves economies of scale by using centralised plants instead of individual cooling units in each building. The centralised system results in reduced capital and operating costs, thus reducing air-conditioning set-up and energy costs per building. Empower is set to become one of the largest district cooling companies in the region.